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The eighth in the Eastern Seed Zone Forum's online lecture and discussion series aimed at providing both information about the creation of seed zones in general and a forum in which professionals, experts, and interested parties discuss the possibility of drafting seed zone guidelines for the eastern United States. In this webinar, Anantha Prasad, Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service will evaluate current and future habitat-fitness and colonization potential of intraspecific genetic zones from inferred evolutionary lineages. He will also illustrate how the colonization of suitable habitats can be modeled opportunistically in the landscape to identify potential future conservation corridors.

Intraspecific variation of tree species demography can be identified via evolutionary lineages, or alternatively by differentiating leading cold-zone regions from trailing warm-zone regions. Matching seed sources with appropriate environmental conditions can be assisted by an understanding of how intra-species evolutionary lineages and climatic regions are associated differentially with environmental heterogeneity. In this webinar, using eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) as an example, Anantha Prasad will evaluate current and future habitat-fitness and colonization potential of intraspecific genetic zones from inferred evolutionary lineages. Zones that harbor glacial refugia offer seed sources that can be useful under changing climates. He will also illustrate how the colonization of suitable habitats can be modeled opportunistically in the landscape to identify potential future conservation corridors. In addition, he will explain how differences in demography between leading warm-zone and trailing cold-zone are related to environmental heterogeneity and can be mapped for further insights. Please join the USDA Forest Service Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources team for its eighth discussion about what it will take to create seed zone guidelines to serve as tools for improved collaborations and partnership in the region.

About the ESZF

The National Forest System needs your help to develop seed zones for the eastern United States! With the input of forestry and natural resource professionals like you, these seed zones have the potential to provide a common frame of reference for nurseries, arboreta, state and federal agencies, and other natural resource organizations to address sustainable forest management and ecosystem restoration challenges. Visit http://www.easternseedzones.com for more information.

Anantha Prasad

Anantha Prasad is a Research Ecologist at the US Forest Service, where his work relates to conserving forests under multiple threats of climate and land use change. Prior to coming to the Forest Service, he worked on inertial navigation systems in aircrafts, estimated carbon emissions from sub-Saharan Africa, and modeled tropical forest biomass degradation.